"Put on your hat, George," said Robert Audley; "they don"t dine at the Court till seven; we shall have time to stroll down and see the old place and its inhabitants."
The landlord, who had come into the room with a bottle of wine, looked up as the young man spoke.
"I beg your pardon, Mr. Audley," he said, "but if you want to see your uncle, you"ll lose your time by going to the Court just now. Sir Michael and my lady and Miss Alicia have all gone to the races up at Chorley, and they won"t be back till nigh upon eight o"clock, most likely. They must pa.s.s by here to go home."
Under these circ.u.mstances of course it was no use going to the Court, so the two young men strolled through the village and looked at the old church, and then went and reconnoitered the streams in which they were to fish the next day, and by such means beguiled the time until after seven o"clock. At about a quarter past that hour they returned to the inn, and seating themselves in the open window, lit their cigars and looked out at the peaceful prospect.
We hear every day of murders committed in the country. Brutal and treacherous murders; slow, protracted agonies from poisons administered by some kindred hand; sudden and violent deaths by cruel blows, inflicted with a stake cut from some spreading oak, whose every shadow promised--peace. In the county of which I write, I have been shown a meadow in which, on a quiet summer Sunday evening, a young farmer murdered the girl who had loved and trusted him; and yet, even now, with the stain of that foul deed upon it, the aspect of the spot is--peace.
No species of crime has ever been committed in the worst rookeries about Seven Dials that has not been also done in the face of that rustic calm which still, in spite of all, we look on with a tender, half-mournful yearning, and a.s.sociate with--peace.
It was dusk when gigs and chaises, dog-carts and clumsy farmers"
phaetons, began to rattle through the village street, and under the windows of the Sun Inn; deeper dusk still when an open carriage and four drew suddenly up beneath the rocking sign-post.
It was Sir Michael Audley"s barouche which came to so sudden a stop before the little inn. The harness of one of the leaders had become out of order, and the foremost postillion dismounted to set it right.
"Why, it"s my uncle," cried Robert Audley, as the carriage stopped.
"I"ll run down and speak to him."
George lit another cigar, and, sheltered by the window-curtains, looked out at the little party. Alicia sat with her back to the horses, and he could perceive, even in the dusk, that she was a handsome brunette; but Lady Audley was seated on the side of the carriage furthest from the inn, and he could see nothing of the fair-haired paragon of whom he had heard so much.
"Why, Robert," exclaimed Sir Michael, as his nephew emerged from the inn, "this is a surprise!"
"I have not come to intrude upon you at the Court, my dear uncle," said the young man, as the baronet shook him by the hand in his own hearty fashion. "Ess.e.x is my native county, you know, and about this time of year I generally have a touch of homesickness; so George and I have come down to the inn for two or three day"s fishing."
"George--George who?"
"George Talboys."
"What, has he come?" cried Alicia. "I"m so glad; for I"m dying to see this handsome young widower."
"Are you, Alicia?" said her cousin, "Then egad, I"ll run and fetch him, and introduce you to him at once."
Now, so complete was the dominion which Lady Audley had, in her own childish, unthinking way, obtained over her devoted husband, that it was very rarely that the baronet"s eyes were long removed from his wife"s pretty face. When Robert, therefore, was about to re-enter the inn, it needed but the faintest elevation of Lucy"s eyebrows, with a charming expression of weariness and terror, to make her husband aware that she did not want to be bored by an introduction to Mr. George Talboys.
"Never mind to-night, Bob," he said. "My wife is a little tired after our long day"s pleasure. Bring your friend to dinner to-morrow, and then he and Alicia can make each other"s acquaintance. Come round and speak to Lady Audley, and then we"ll drive home."
My lady was so terribly fatigued that she could only smile sweetly, and hold out a tiny gloved hand to her nephew by marriage.
"You will come and dine with us to-morrow, and bring your interesting friend?" she said, in a low and tired voice. She had been the chief attraction of the race-course, and was wearied out by the exertion of fascinating half the county.
"It"s a wonder she didn"t treat you to her never-ending laugh,"
whispered Alicia, as she leaned over the carriage-door to bid Robert good-night; "but I dare say she reserves that for your delectation to-morrow. I suppose _you_ are fascinated as well as everybody else?"
added the young lady, rather snappishly.
"She is a lovely creature, certainly," murmured Robert, with placid admiration.
"Oh, of course! Now, she is the first woman of whom I ever heard you say a civil word, Robert Audley. I"m sorry to find you can only admire wax dolls."
Poor Alicia had had many skirmishes with her cousin upon that particular temperament of his, which, while it enabled him to go through life with perfect content and tacit enjoyment, entirely precluded his feeling one spark of enthusiasm upon any subject whatever.
"As to his ever falling in love," thought the young lady sometimes, "the idea is preposterous. If all the divinities on earth were ranged before him, waiting for his sultanship to throw the handkerchief, he would only lift his eyebrows to the middle of his forehead, and tell them to scramble for it."
But, for once in his life, Robert was almost enthusiastic.
"She"s the prettiest little creature you ever saw in your life, George,"
he cried, when the carriage had driven off and he returned to his friend. "Such blue eyes, such ringlets, such a ravishing smile, such a fairy-like bonnet--all of a-tremble with heart"s-ease and dewy spangles, shining out of a cloud of gauze. George Talboys, I feel like the hero of a French novel: I am falling in love with my aunt."
The widower only sighed and puffed his cigar fiercely out of the open window. Perhaps he was thinking of that far-away time--little better than five years ago, in fact; but such an age gone by to him--when he first met the woman for whom he had worn c.r.a.pe round his hat three days before. They returned, all those old unforgotten feelings; they came back, with the scene of their birth-place. Again he lounged with his brother officers upon the shabby pier at the shabby watering-place, listening to a dreary band with a cornet that was a note and a half flat. Again he heard the old operatic airs, and again _she_ came tripping toward him, leaning on her old father"s arm, and pretending (with such a charming, delicious, serio-comic pretense) to be listening to the music, and quite unaware of the admiration of half a dozen open-mouthed cavalry officers. Again the old fancy came back that she was something too beautiful for earth, or earthly uses, and that to approach her was to walk in a higher atmosphere and to breathe a purer air. And since this she had been his wife, and the mother of his child.
She lay in the little churchyard at Ventnor, and only a year ago he had given the order for her tombstone. A few slow, silent tears dropped upon his waistcoat as he thought of these things in the quiet and darkening room.
Lady Audley was so exhausted when she reached home, that she excused herself from the dinner-table, and retired at once to her dressing-room, attended by her maid, Phoebe Marks.
She was a little capricious in her conduct to this maid--sometimes very confidential, sometimes rather reserved; but she was a liberal mistress, and the girl had every reason to be satisfied with her situation.
This evening, in spite of her fatigue, she was in extremely high spirits, and gave an animated account of the races, and the company present at them.
"I am tired to death, though, Phoebe," she said, by-and-by. "I am afraid I must look a perfect fright, after a day in the hot sun."
There were lighted candles on each side of the gla.s.s before which Lady Audley was standing unfastening her dress. She looked full at her maid as she spoke, her blue eyes clear and bright, and the rosy childish lips puckered into an arch smile.
"You are a little pale, my lady," answered the girl, "but you look as pretty as ever."
"That"s right, Phoebe," she said, flinging herself into a chair, and throwing back her curls at the maid, who stood, brush in hand, ready to arrange the luxuriant hair for the night. "Do you know, Phoebe, I have heard some people say that you and I are alike?"
"I have heard them say so, too, my lady," said the girl, quietly "but they must be very stupid to say it, for your ladyship is a beauty, and I am a poor, plain creature."
"Not at all, Phoebe," said the little lady, superbly; "you _are_ like me, and your features are very nice; it is only color that you want. My hair is pale yellow shot with gold, and yours is drab; my eyebrows and eyelashes are dark brown, and yours are almost--I scarcely like to say it, but they"re almost white, my dear Phoebe. Your complexion is sallow, and mine is pink and rosy. Why, with a bottle of hair-dye, such as we see advertised in the papers, and a pot of rouge, you"d be as good-looking as I, any day, Phoebe."
She prattled on in this way for a long time, talking of a hundred different subjects, and ridiculing the people she had met at the races, for her maid"s amus.e.m.e.nt. Her step-daughter came into the dressing-room to bid her good-night, and found the maid and mistress laughing aloud over one of the day"s adventures. Alicia, who was never familiar with her servants, withdrew in disgust at my lady"s frivolity.
"Go on brushing my hair, Phoebe," Lady Audley said, every time the girl was about to complete her task, "I quite enjoy a chat with you."
At last, just as she had dismissed her maid, she suddenly called her back. "Phoebe Marks," she said, "I want you to do me a favor."
"Yes, my lady."
"I want you to go to London by the first train to-morrow morning to execute a little commission for me. You may take a day"s holiday afterward, as I know you have friends in town; and I shall give you a five-pound note if you do what I want, and keep your own counsel about it."
"Yes, my lady."
"See that that door is securely shut, and come and sit on this stool at my feet."
The girl obeyed. Lady Audley smoothed her maid"s neutral-tinted hair with her plump, white, and bejeweled hand as she reflected for a few moments.
"And now listen, Phoebe. What I want you to do is very simple."
It was so simple that it was told in five minutes, and then Lady Audley retired into her bed-room, and curled herself up cozily under the eider-down quilt. She was a chilly creature, and loved to bury herself in soft wrappings of satin and fur.